Flame

Flame was a lock down kitten. I picked him only a few days after his birth on Boxing Day, a beautiful cream and white Maine Coon. We visited him only a few weeks later, around 4 weeks old, and he was very friendly, but still too young to be playful etc. he just cuddled and slept. I kept up to date with the litter on the breeders Facebook page, and got chatting with a lady who was having one of his litter mates, who lived close to me. We were both excited about our kittens and talked all the time about when we would finally get them, at 14 weeks old. At 13 weeks old, it became clear that the first lockdown was imminent. The kittens had just been neutered, and were apparently doing well. A couple of days later, it was announced lockdown would start the next day. My friend decided to go get her kitten a few days early, and picked Flame up too. She dropped him off that evening, and I was surprised at his size. I’d been expecting a 2kg kitten (the average size for a Maine Coon boy of that age), and he was also a bit thin and his fur wasn’t very nice. He was also RAVENOUS. I’d never seen any kitten so desperate for food, not even rescues I’d had. The breeder said to only feed him tiny amounts, but this was less than half the amount on the food guide. And that was for a normal size kitten.

Very soon, we realised he had bad diarrhoea. The breeder said we’d fed him too much, but this made no sense to us. My friend’s kitten also had bad diarrhoea. After several incredibly stressful days, and multiple calls to the vet (only serious emergencies were being seen at this time), it became clear they were both quite poorly. We also learned that their other littermate had died several days earlier. There was something terribly wrong. With more and more questioning, we found out their mother had had an extremely difficult time, one of the kittens had their placenta come away, and had died in the womb before they were born. It had then taken a further two days for the litter to be born. The kittens had become infected with bacteria from the poor baby that hadn’t made it. Despite them having these infections from birth, the breeder hadn’t treated them, which was why they were half the size they should have been. My vets were fantastic, despite the huge difficulties at the beginning of lockdown and no one sure of what they were doing, they helped us get to the bottom of the problem, tested the kittens and found the two bacteria they were infected with. We immediately administered antibiotics, and there was such a difference after only a week. Two weeks later they were clear of the infections, but still having problems with diarrhoea. It wasn’t as bad, but they were uncomfortable and not growing as they should be. They were on a special veterinary diet, but it wasn’t helping. We tried several more, but none of them stopped the diarrhoea, and the kittens were still suffering.

Posting on Maine Coon Facebook pages, we were recommended to try raw food. Desperate, we found a recommended supplier, and put an order in for a starter box for both kittens. LUNA & me delivered the next day. Both kittens took to it almost immediately, with only a short changeover needed. Two weeks later, the diarrhoea was gone. They started to grow like weeds!! Their fur began to grow, and became silky and beautiful. LUNA & me literally saved Flame’s life. He’s three this Boxing Day, and the most amazing, friendly and gorgeous cat. We swapped our other Maine Coon onto raw too, and he is also in superb condition. I’ll never move away from raw food for my cats, it’s so obvious it’s the best food for them.